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H.S. Basketball: West Greene, JM, South Fayette lose

February 21, 2013

Brenna Wise, Vincentian’s 6-1 sophomore center, scored 18 points and the Royals, the top-seeded team in Class A, rolled to a 59-15 victory over West Greene in a first-round girls game at Chartiers Valley.

Vincentian (22-1) dominated from start to finish, leading 22-2 after one quarter and 35-4 at halftime. The Royals remained undefeated against Class A opponents. Their only loss came in the regular-season finale against Class AAAA Gateway.

West Greene (13-10) struggled all night against Vincentian’s suffocating full-court pressure defense. The Pioneers committed 40 turnovers and didn’t make their first field goal until more than nine minutes into the game.

When the Pioneers did break the full-court pressure, they were able to get the ball inside to the low post, but too often couldn’t get a shot to fall. The offense the Pioneers displayed in a win over Clairton in the preliminary round Saturday wasn’t there against Vincentian.

West Greene coach Jordan Watson knew his team faced a difficult challenge, but he did find some positives.

“I thought we did a decent job on Wise. She came in needing 22 points for 1,000 (for her career), and we didn’t want that to happen against us,” said Watson, who loses only one senior, point guard Emily Stoll, from the only team in the Washington-Greene area to win a playoff game in each of the last two seasons.

“I’m proud of our girls. We won one more game than last year, and while it’s tough to replace a point guard like Emily, we do have a lot coming back. We have a player at every spot who has at least some starting experience.”

Madison Raber led West Greene with eight points.

Kiersten Elliott scored 10 for Vincentian.

Serra 85, Jefferson-Morgan 45: A 22-5 run in the second quarter sparked Serra to an 85-45 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in a WPIAL Class A playoff.

Kayla Yorko tossed in 16 points to lead Jefferson-Morgan (10-14). Jessica Taylor chipped in with 11.

Central Valley 59, South Fayette 50: Madi Rowan scored a game-high 35 points to power Central Valley to a 59-50 victory over South Fayette in a WPIAL Class AAA playoff game.

Seairra Barrett added 14 for CV (18-4), who outscored South Fayette 37-23 through the middle two quarters.

Kristen Hardt paced South Fayette (15-8).

Belle Vernon 60, Greensburg Salem 40: The Slagus sisters, Jessica and Kaitlyn, each had double-doubles to lead Belle Vernon to a 60-40 victory over Greensburg Salem in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA girls basketball playoffs.

Jessica Slagus had 21 points and 18 rebounds and Kaitlyn had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Jaguars (16-6). Claire Oberdorf led Greensburg Salem (16-6) with 12 points.

Rochester 46, Monessen 37: Denni McFrazier had 18 points as Rochester eliminated Monessen from the Class A playoffs with a 46-37 win at Woodland Hills High School.

Kala Desong added 16 points for the Rams (12-11), who opened the second half with a 15-9 run to open up a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

Mariah Ward had 16 points, and Tara Grogan had 12 for Monessen (9-13).